I love your National Anthem but boy, do some of the triers that get the pre-start gig, crucify it.
There're some absolute shockers being dished up which I think ridicules the presentation.
I'd rather watch a crowd responding to a pre-recording and see the Anthem getting the credence it has won.

I love your National Anthem but boy, do some of the triers that get the pre-start gig, crucify it.There're some absolute shockers being dished up which I think ridicules the presentation.I'd rather watch a crowd responding to a pre-recording and see the Anthem getting the credence it has won.

At the Demolition Derby at the county fair last saturday, they used a recording and it was great.

I have to confess that I totally missed these the first time around. I used to deliberately tune out this kind of content -- I was all get-me-to-the-meat-of it. When I recently discovered the extreme popularity of these and similar videos, I was forced to take another look and I'm glad I did.

Along those lines, below is one of the most watched clips ever at MCG: the history of F1 from 1950 to now, compressed to one minute and presented in animated form by Rufus Blacklock. It's really rather brilliant. I especially like the steering wheel and engine icons in the upper right corner.

If you enjoyed the F1 music (and I did), you'll probably find the story of the Telharmonium fascinating as well. It was another example of creating music in an unusual way, this time electromechanically. From wikipedia:

The Teleharmonium (also known as the Dynamophone) was an early electronic musical instrument, developed by Thaddeus Cahill in 1897.[1][2][3] The electrical signal from the Telharmonium was transmitted over wires; it was heard on the receiving end by means of 'horn' speakers.[4]

Like the later Hammond organ, the Telharmonium used tonewheels to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by additive synthesis.[4]Patent 580035 was filed by Cahill for the Telharmonium in 1896.

Cahill built three versions: The Mark I version weighed 7 tons. The Mark II version weighed almost 200 tons.[3] (as did the Mark III). Each was a considerable advancement over the features of its predecessor. A small number of performances in front of a live audience were given in addition to the telephone transmissions. Performances in New York (some at "Telharmonic Hall", 39th and Broadway)[4] were well received by the public in 1906, and the performer would sit at a console (see picture) to control the instrument. The actual mechanism of the instrument itself was so large it occupied an entire room — wires from the controlling console were fed discreetly through holes in the floor of an auditorium into the instrument room itself, which was housed in the basement beneath the concert hall.

The Telharmonium foreshadowed modern electronic musical equipment in a number of ways. For instance, its sound output came in the form of connecting ordinary telephone receivers to large paper cones — a primitive form of loudspeaker. Indeed, Cahill was noted for saying that electromagnetic diaphragms were the most preferable means of outputting its distinctive sound.

Although no recordings exist of the Telharmonium, observers reported that its sound was very clear and pure — probably referring to the sine tones it was capable of producing. However, it was not restricted to such simple sounds. Each tonewheel of the instrument corresponded to a single note, and, to broaden its possibilities, Cahill added several extra tonewheels to add harmonics to each note. This, combined with organ-like stops and multiple keyboards (the Telharmonium was polyphonic), as well as a number of foot pedals, meant that every sound could be sculpted and reshaped — the instrument was noted for its ability to reproduce the sounds of common orchestral woodwind instruments such as the flute, bassoon, clarinet, and also the cello.

The Telharmonium's demise came for a number of reasons. Its immense size, weight and power consumption (this being in an age before vacuum tubes had been invented) caused obvious problems. In addition, problems began to arise when telephone broadcasts of Telharmonium music were subject to crosstalk and unsuspecting telephone users would be interrupted by strange electronic music. By 1912, interest in this revolutionary instrument had changed, and Cahill's company was later declared not successful in 1914.

When I was in college I proposed an independent study project where I was going to write a program to use a dot matrix printer to play music. I didn't get very far but I did determine that it's possible.

When I was in college I proposed an independent study project where I was going to write a program to use a dot matrix printer to play music. I didn't get very far but I did determine that it's possible.

Incredible artwork (and I think Tony's cutaways are true high art fully comparable to the stuff hanging in prestigious museums even if he wouldn't agree). In many ways this car makes current F1 cars look like a lesser formula.

Incredible artwork (and I think Tony's cutaways are true high art fully comparable to the stuff hanging in prestigious museums even if he wouldn't agree). In many ways this car makes current F1 cars look like a lesser formula.

I was thinking that same thing when I was putting the piece together. There was a golden age of F1 technology and today is not it. Not judging, just saying.

... and I was also thinking what remarkable art this is. Tony knows these vehicles in a way almost no one does. Short of disassembling and reassembling the entire vehicle with your own hands, this is it.